Severus Snape rounded a corner in the corridor, lost in thought. He did not know what to think about what he had seen and what the boy had said. Surely he had to have been mistaken… but with the reaction Harry had given, storming off like he had, and then not showing up for Potions class the next day, Severus knew that he had not been flawed in his assessment of the way the sixth year Gryffindor felt about him. To some extent the thought of any person thinking of him as a parent figure disturbed him. And yet, on another level, another emotion tugged at him, and refused to leave him be. It was an emotion he had tried to push aside for the past month, and he could not even be sure what it was that dogged him so.

Finally he came to the stone gargoyle marking the entrance to the Headmaster’s office. Mixed emotions battling within him, he momentarily could not remember the password. He stood there in thought, wanting advice from the old man, but also not wanting to tell him what he had seen in Harry’s mind.

Minutes passed, and finally a seventh year Ravenclaw Prefect, also the Head boy, walked past him, and then turned and stopped. “Do you need the password sir?” he asked uncertainly, expecting a snide comment in return from the Potion’s Master.

Severus looked at him, and nodded once.

The Head boy walked back to the gargoyle, and said, “Cauldron Cake.” At the speaking of the password, the stone gargoyle leapt to life and stepped aside, revealing the familiar spiral staircase, moving upward to the Headmaster’s office.

“Thank you Vale,” he said, and stepped onto the moving stairs, letting them carry him upwards.

Henry Vale thought on the Professor’s lack of memory of the password for a moment, and then moved off, giving it no more attention in his mind.

At the top of the stairs, Severus had but to knock once, before the door opened of its own accord and revealed the Headmaster’s office.

“Hello Severus,” Dumbledore said.

Snape stepped into the office, and the door closed behind him, again by itself.

The Headmaster considered him for a moment, and then said, “Something heavy weighs on your mind Severus. Do have a seat, won’t you?”

Severus did as he was told and took the visitor’s chair on the right.

“What bothers you so?” Dumbledore asked him.

Snape thought for a moment, and then said, “Harry Potter.”

Dumbledore nodded. “Yes, he has been on my mind of late as well. Minerva informs me that he and Mr. Weasley had quite a row earlier this week… she believes it has something to do with Harry’s dreams.”

Severus nodded. “He has told you this already?” Dumbledore asked him. Snape nodded again.

“Indeed. I must admit, it takes some worry from my heart that he has been confiding in someone,” he paused here, and said, “I believed that he was talking to you, but I was surprised to find that true, given your mutual dislike of one another other in the past.”

Again Severus nodded. He wondered if the Headmaster had been as surprised as he had been to find Harry willingly spending time grading in his office. He had gotten the idea that the boy found it a place of solitude, although he did not know why. Dumbledore watched Severus closely as that unwanted emotion tugged at the Potions Master again and he tried to tuck it away to some forgotten part of his mind. He had come to enjoy the fact that somebody might actually want to spend time with him, even if he was surprised by the notion. He had also taken pleasure in knowing that Potter trusted him enough to teach him something so important as protecting his mind. He could have so easily gone to the Headmaster for these lessons.

Severus sighed, and Dumbledore asked, “Is it safe to assume that you have again been giving him Occlumency lessons?”

The Potion’s Master considered that for a moment, and then replied, “I have… until last night.”

“Oh?”

“It ended badly… for both of us.”

Fingers interlaced in front of him, Dumbledore watched Severus and waited for him to continue, which after a few moments of silence, did.

“He ran from the office shouting how much he hated me.”

“You saw something in his mind that he did not want you to see,” Dumbledore stated, not making it a question. Severus nodded.

“He is not doing well with the lessons. He is doing better than before, but I do not believe his mind is strong enough to force the Dark Lord out when the time comes. He does not believe he can conquer his own mind, and therefore will not be able to do so effectively.”

Dumbledore nodded this time. There was silence between them for a moment, and then the Headmaster said, “I remember once tutoring a troubled young man in the art of Occlumency,” he paused, knowing that Severus knew whom he was talking about. “I tried everything I knew to teach him, and yet he did badly time and again with the lessons. It was not that he did not know the danger of having an unguarded mind, for he had witnessed it first hand at the hands of Lord Voldemort, but instead, it was that he did not care what happened to himself.” Snape didn’t meet Dumbledore’s eyes.

“Do you believe this is the case with Harry?” he asked Snape.

Severus shook his head. “No.”

“Then what keeps him from mastering his own thoughts?”

“I know not.” Snape paused, wondering if he would be caught in his lie. “I have tried all I know with him. I have tried being patient, I have tried making him angry, I have tried showing him the danger of keeping himself unguarded, and yet he still fails.”

Dumbledore’s brilliant blue eyes were fixed on the man in front of him, who would not meet his eyes. “You perhaps have overlooked one technique.”

“And what might that be Headmaster?” Severus asked, finally looking up at him again. Dumbledore smiled the smallest of smiles.

“Perhaps you should play the part that he feels you should be playing.”

Snape raised his brows, knowing that unless Potter had been up there already to talk to him, he could not know what he thought of him as. Uncertain still, he asked, “And what part is that?”

Dumbledore’s head tilted ever so slightly to the side. “You tell me Severus. How does he think on you these days?” Snape looked away.

“I am assuming that this is the thing you have seen in his mind that has upset the both of you so.”

He nodded, but did not answer him for many long, silent moments.

“He looks up to me in a way that he should not.”

“What makes you think you are unworthy of another’s affection?”

“I am responsible for his parents deaths!” Suddenly he was angry, knowing that it had been him that had told the Dark Lord of the prophecy, and essentially him that had killed Lily. “It is wrong that he should look to me to fill their places,” he finished quietly.

“Severus,” Dumbledore said calmly, “sometimes magic, or lack thereof, can create deep, unbreakable bonds between the most unlikely of people. Perhaps the seed of trust in you was planted in his heart and mind when you were both stranded and without magic in the wilderness.”

“It is misplaced then,” Snape said without any heart to the statement. “His father hated me, his mother came to hate me, his father’s friends hated me…”

“And yet, he does not,” Dumbledore finished for him.

“He is wrong to think me a fit replacement,” Snape said immediately after the Headmaster had finished speaking.

There was another long, pregnant silence between the two men. Finally Dumbledore said, “Severus, perhaps he has not the control to master his mind at this moment… the mind can weave fantastic tales of betrayal and fantasies that never existed. But the heart… the heart is loyal to it’s owner, and will never lie. As much as some, or many, may wish that their heart would leave them alone for the pain inside it, it will not lead it’s owner astray. That is old magic Severus… the very oldest. It will triumph when there is no other magic to be found, and the mind has left all logic behind.”

For a moment Snape thought the Headmaster was finished, but then he continued. “Harry’s heart is telling him things that his mind conflicts with, and so he cannot triumph over his mind because his heart is winning out. Once his heart has done so, his mind may willingly go into the submission necessary for him to take control over it. Until then it remains lost on the wind, floating here and there where Lord Voldemort can snatch it up as he pleases and take pleasure in tormenting the boy. Severus,” he paused, and Snape looked up into his crystal blue eyes. “What does your heart tell you?”

Snape sighed heavily and put his head in his hand. He had not expected so much trouble to come to him over offering one boy a job grading papers.

“It tells me things I don’t want it to,” he finally conceded, “but that are nice to hear nonetheless.”

Dumbledore nodded. “I cannot tell you what to do Severus. I can only hope that you let your mind lose this battle, so that Harry can win his.”

* * *

In honor of the Gryffindor common room being flooded, courtesy of Collin Creevy and Daniel Baker, Harry had a short reprieve from Gryffindor tower after dinner that night, and sat instead with the rest of the Gryffindors doing homework in the Great Hall. No other houses being present, the Gryffindors spread out and sat at all four house tables.

He was halfway through a Transfiguration essay, and finding it so difficult to concentrate on anything other than his slip up in the Occlumency lesson, that he didn’t even notice Hermione sit down next to him.

“Harry,” she said. Harry looked up abruptly, startled to hear her voice. She hadn’t been talking to him since the fight he and Ron had had, not because she was angry with him, but because she didn’t want to be accused by either friend of taking sides.

“Hi Hermione,” he said dully.

She looked down at his unfinished essay, but didn’t say anything about it. “Harry, what happened?”

Harry shook his head. “I was stupid. I blew up at Ron when there was no reason to. He didn’t tell you that?”

Hermione shook her head. “He won’t say anything to me about you.

Harry gave a short, humorless laugh. That was Ron, loyal to the end, and he, Harry, had ruined the best friendship he had ever had because he had forgotten that.

“Did you apologize Harry?” she asked him.

He nodded and looked back over at her again. “I tried. Twice. He won’t hear it. He just cuts me off and tells me not to talk to him.”

“Harry, you’ve got to try again.”

“It won’t work Hermione. I know I’m a git, he knows I’m a git, that’s the end of it.”

“Harry,” she tried again, “I think he’s worried about you. Whenever you come into a room he gives you this worried look…”

Harry shrugged. “He probably thinks I’ll blow up at him again.” He sighed. “I had no right to do that. I thought he had told somebody something he promised he wouldn’t… I don’t know why I thought that. McGonagall asked me about it, and then he came down the hall right then and… I was really angry.”

Hermione bit her lip… “Michael Corner said that Snape had to drag you down the hall and away from Ron…”

Harry shook his head. “Almost,” he paused, and said, “besides, don’t talk about Snape to me… or Potions.”

Hermione bit her lip again, and he wondered if she had planned on next asking him why he had missed Snape’s class.

“You’re making this hard Harry.”

Harry shrugged, “For who?”

“For me. For Ron. For you.”

“Hey, don’t tell me that. I told you already, I tried to apologize to Ron. I know how horrible a friend I am, but he won’t hear it out. I don’t expect him to forgive me for that, and I’ll be surprised if he does.”

Finally deciding that he was too distracted to finish the essay that night, he set his quill down and rubbed his forehead.

“Oh Harry,” she said, “I don’t know what to do.”

Harry gave another short laugh. “That should be the motto for my fan club.”

Hermione frowned at him, and Harry immediately said, “Sorry.”

“I don’t know what to do either Hermione. I just lost the best friend I ever had because I’m a stupid git; I’ve been having nightmares every night where Voldemort tries to kill me and people I know and like help him; and to top it all off, I’ve been taking Occlumency lessons and I’m rubbish at it. Each time I try to push him out of my mind I end up face first on the floor drenched in sweat. I can’t do it anymore.”

Hermione gave him a sympathetic look, and before he knew what was happening she had him in a hug. Surprised by the warmth it gave him to hug her, both inside and out, he suddenly thought that Ron was very lucky to have her.

“I’m here if you need me Harry,” she told him, releasing him from her grip.

“I know,” he said, “thanks.”

She held out her hand, and Harry pushed the Transfiguration essay over to her for her to look over.

“You’ve missed a few things,” she told him, pointing at the place he had left off writing. Harry looked at her and grinned for the first time in a week.

“I’m glad you’re still my friend Hermione.”

She smiled and picked up his quill, “I know.”

At nine o’clock Professor McGonagall entered the Great Hall and announced that the accidental flood had been stopped, and that they could once again go back to the common room. Elves were working hard to dry the floor, curtains, and furniture as she spoke.

On his way out the door to the Entrance Hall, McGonagall stopped Harry, and later Ron, and told them, “As for you, you have detention to serve with Mr. Filch on the eighth floor cleaning out the East wing attic.”

Harry nodded and began to make his way up to the top of the East side of the castle. As far as he knew, he had never been up to that part of the eighth floor before, but he figured that the attic couldn’t be hard to find.

Once he was there, he had only to wait a few minutes before Ron showed up, still quiet and not meeting Harry’s eyes. After that it was only a few moments before they heard Filch coming up the hall talking to somebody, whom they could only assume were Collin and Daniel.

“It’s too bad that all the bathrooms in the castle are already sparkling! I have half a mind to dirty them up again right good just to put you two dunderheads to work! Do you know how hard it is to clean up four feet of water!?”

A moment later Filch, Collin, and Daniel came around the corner. The Caretaker had both boys by the collar, one in each hand, and half dragged them along. It wasn’t difficult since both boys were rather small for their age. Collin was a fifth year, and Daniel a third year.

“Get in there!” he shouted at the two boys, pushing them forward and through the door to the East attic. Harry and Ron followed wordlessly. If he weren’t in such a foul mood, Harry might have laughed aloud at the two younger boys and the trouble they had gotten themselves into.

“I’ll have this castle cleaner than it’s been since it was built with the number of detentions you two have!” Filch laughed a laugh that matched his raspy voice, and looked around to Harry and Ron.

“And you two had better not fight neither, or I’ll have you helping these two for the next month!” Harry and Ron gave each other a quick look, but nothing more.

“Spotless!” Filch told the four of them. “I want this attic spotless! That means no dust! No spider webs! I want all this junk sorted out and stacked neatly! And don’t the four of you cause any trouble while I’m gone dealing with that watery mess in Gryffindor tower, or I’ll have your heads too!”

With this he stormed away and slammed the attic door behind them.

Harry and Ron pulled their wands out and began to light various lanterns that they found with a small fire charm to light the attic. Once they had done so, they saw that the room was huge. It was the equivalent size of around eight large classrooms, and it was filled from floor to ceiling in some places, and in others wall to wall with old storage trunks, wardrobes, desks of all shapes and sizes, full-length mirrors, bed frames, and chairs. Each piece of furniture was covered in an inch of dust.

“Well, it’s better than bathrooms,” Daniel said brightly.

Collin nodded and Ron shook his head, “No it’s not. Cleaning bathrooms took two days. This will take you a month.”

Collin pulled his wand out, and said, “We need a spell to get rid of dust.”

“How about a water charm?” Harry asked.

Daniel grinned and Collin’s face lit up again. “Now that’s an idea,” he said.

“Do you want to be expelled,” Ron asked the two younger boys.

“Hey, that was an accident,” said Daniel. “We found that water charm in a book in the Library. We thought it would be good for fighting fires!”

Harry looked over at him as he muttered a wind charm and aimed his wand at a desk, seeing if it would blow the dust off of it. It did, but it also created a cloud of dust that was hard to breath in. “What were you two planning on setting on fire?” he asked, waving his hand around in the air to clear the dust from it faster.

Collin and Daniel looked at each other. “It doesn’t matter now. We can’t use that water charm on it! It said never ending water… we didn’t think it meant that we couldn’t stop it!”

Ron shook his head. “And I thought Fred and George were bad.”

Not facing Ron, Harry smiled, knowing none of the others could see him doing it.

For an hour they heaved heavy furniture around and tried to make a path to the back. Chairs were stacked along one wall, and they stacked desks on top of each other on another wall. Soon they uncovered two windows in the East wall and Harry took an old cloth he had found damp with water from his wand, and wiped it down so they could see out of it. From both windows shined bright moonlight into the room. Harry pushed one open, and then the other, to let the cool night air in, and some of the dusty air from the attic out. Both windows were the size of Harry, and went from the floor to about five and a half feet tall. They were wide enough that he could sit in them if he wanted to and hang his legs out. Beyond the windows was a small ledge, and beyond that, they could see part of the lake, and most of the Forbidden forest.

“Hey, look at this!” Daniel suddenly said from the other side of the room, opposite the windows. Ron and Collin went over to see what he had. It turned out to be a box that looked as if it was made of pure gold.

“Why would they keep such a pretty thing up here?” Collin asked.

“I don’t know,” Daniel said. “Let’s open it and see what’s inside!”

Harry was just about to object, because he knew from first hand experience what some objects could hold inside, but there was a sudden explosion, and Ron was sent flying backward toward the nearest open window.

“Ron!” Harry shouted. He ran to the window Ron had been thrown from and looked out of it. Ron was hanging there on the ledge with both hands.

“Pull me in Harry!” he said frantically.

Harry reached through and gripped both of Ron’s wrists, and tugged on him. He was a lot heaver than he would have thought. For long moments Harry wrestled with Ron, trying to pull him up and inside, Ron trying to walk up the side of the castle wall outside, and not look down to the grass eight stories below. Finally they managed, and Ron was inside, panting next to Harry who was doing the same.

Across the room, Daniel and Collin still stood, open box in hand, watching Harry and Ron, eyes wide.

“What was in that thing!?” Ron asked angrily.

Daniel dropped the box with a clatter onto the wooden floor. “I didn’t do it!” he said quickly.

He and Collin backed away from the small box a few steps just as the door burst open and Filch ran inside, wheezing.

“Didn’t I tell you that if you caused anymore trouble I would kill you!”

Daniel and Collin looked at each other, eyes even wider. “No!” said Daniel frantically, “You only said you’d have our heads!”

“Even better!” Filch moved for the two younger boys, and suddenly Harry was there between Filch and his fellow Gryffindors, Ron by his side.

“We were just moving things Mr. Filch,” he said in as polite a tone as he could. “We dropped a heavy desk on accident!” Filch looked around wildly to see if there was any truth to what he said. As luck would have it, the same explosion that had sent Ron flying out the window, had also knocked several desks on their sides, and even broken a particularly old one.

“Why are the windows open boy? Throwing things out of it were yeh?”

Ron shook his head. “We cleaned the windows off and we opened them to dry and to let cool air in.”

Filch glared at them.

“Get out! All of you! Back to your house!” Startled, the four boys stood there for a moment, and Filch shouted again, “OUT!”

Daniel and Collin ran for the door, and Harry and Ron strode out of it, not as afraid of Filch as they used to be, if at all.

Down a flight of stairs and around a corner, and Harry stopped walking. Ron did also. They looked at each other, and Harry couldn’t help but bust out laughing.

“Did you see their faces!?”

Ron grinned, also laughing, “Did you see mine?”

Harry nodded. “I thought you were gone for good!” They laughed for a moment more, Daniel and Collin nowhere in sight, presumably having already run all the way back to Gryffindor tower.

Harry shook his head. “I was just glad they didn’t flood the attic… it would have made it rain all down through the castle through that wooden floor…”

“Yeah,” Ron said. Sides hurting from laughter, boy boys finally calmed, and took deep breaths. Harry leaned on one wall, and Ron on the opposite one of the skinny corridor.

Ron looked up at Harry, who was watching the floor, a grin still on his face.

“I heard what you said mate.”

Harry looked up. “About what?”

Ron shrugged and looked down at the floor. “About being a git… down in the Great Hall before detention tonight. I was at the table behind you.”

“Oh,” Harry said.

Ron looked up again, and said, “I’m sorry I didn’t let you finish apologizing… I thought you were going to make an excuse for the way you treated me.”

Harry shook his head. “Don’t apologize Ron. I’m the one who should be doing that. I had no right to do what I did,” he paused. “You’re not a rotten friend Ron. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had.” He paused again, and then said, “Come to think of it, you’re the first friend I’ve ever had.”

“Really?”

Harry nodded. “Really.”

There was silence for a moment, and then Ron laughed, and said, “Well mate, be glad that your first and best friend didn’t plummet to his ultimate doom tonight then.”

Harry laughed too, “Yeah.”

They began walking back to Gryffindor tower at a casual pace, but Harry stopped before they reached the end of the corridor. Ron stopped too and turned to him.

Harry held out his hand, “Friends?” he asked.

Ron grinned, “Always mate. Best friends.” They took hold of each other’s hand in a shake, and laughed again as they made their way down to Gryffindor common room.